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Running a business and living the lifestyle you want can be seen as mutually exclusive. Maintaining the right balance, while meeting the changing goals of both, can be seen as a talent. But shifting focus away from the bottom line can lead to a better outcome, professionally and personally. Two entrepreneurs share their ongoing journey toward mastering this art.

Since starting Zoot Publishing, I've learnt a lot about myself, writing, and the realities of being an author and running your own business. As a business owner you need a diverse stack of skills - above and beyond the skills you need to create your book or product. You need marketing, sales, distribution, shipping & logistics, operations, finance, legal and HR.

You also need a lot of time, energy and motivation to learn it all this whilst also trying to keep your head above water. It's scary, fulfilling, exhilarating and demoralising all at once. And because there's always so much to do, it's easy to lose sight of things that are important to you .

In May this year, Akiba and I wrote an article for XRDS magazine published by ACM (Association for Computing Machinery). In the article we talked about how most business plans prioritise business goals over lifestyle goals, and how we're trying to do the opposite. We discuss the journey that got us to this point, the specific ways we're doing it in our respective industries, and the challenges we still face. It's not easy, and at (many) times it's stressful, but it is worth it.

Writing is fun because when I write, I get to make up stuff. I get to imagine new worlds and people, and their stories. And sometimes, just sometimes, people even give me money for doing it. How cool is that?!

It's Sunday afternoon, and I'm sitting by the window, waiting for the typhoon to come.

It's been raining for the past 2 weeks, and while earlier in the week, I wanted nothing more than to be outside, somehow today it's ok not to be. It feels right to be indoors with a glowing heater and blanket around my legs whilst outside it's wet, cold, and grey. Perhaps because there's a typhoon on the way, and it's so deliciously melancholic. Around midnight, Typhoon Lan will hit. It's a category 4 typhoon and I'm not sure what to expect. I'll pack a bag just in case.

In the meantime, all this wind and rain is making me reflective. Why, in the last two weeks, have my thoughts towards how and what I write become kinder?

The reason is when it comes to writing, I load myself up with pressure before I've even picked up a pen, or opened my laptop. There's pressure to come up with ideas that are unique, gripping and insightful, to create characters that ring true and aren't cliche, to tell stories that are moving and worthy of a literary prize, and to write fast and frequently.

'There’s a scene in one of the Harry Potter movies. Hagrid invites the students to come up and meet a really terrifying critter. “All right, then,” he says, “Who’s first?” All the students take a step back, leaving Harry standing alone in front of the group. That’s kind of like how I fell into the job.'

This October 8 and 9 is the annual Japan Writers Conference. A melting pot of free talks, workshops and readings, the event brings together a community of writers, publishers, and lovers of literature to share their knowledge and celebrate words.

Whether it's the ins and outs of writing horror, poetry, interactive fiction, memoirs or first lines, exploring the pros and cons of small presses, learning how to be a writer and an editor, or landing a newspaper column in Japan, this year's lineup has something for everyone. We'll be doing a session on interactive fiction on Monday Oct 9 at 2pm. So if you're in Tokyo, come down and say hello, Programme details here.

We sat down with John Gribble, one of the organisers, to learn what Harry Potter has to do with his involvement, what he finds surprising and challenging about running the conference, and what he's working on now.

Hi, I'm Jacinta! I write interactive fiction picture books, run storytelling sessions for kids, and workshops to help other writers print and publish their work. I also run Zoot - an indie publishing house exploring new formats and genres of printed books and games - where we experiment with storytelling, writing, paper electronics, and print technology.